John zimmerman



J; ZIMMERMAN.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

KEY OPENING CAN.

Patented Nov. 22,1892..

l, We? lvm/wmf u: Norms Permis oo.. maremma., wAsmNGToN u c (No Model.) l 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. ZIMMBRMAN.

KEY OPENING GAN. No. 486,522. Patented Nov. 22, 1892.

fz'izzee I fzwezzioz."

m: mums mus 0o.. momumo.. wAsHlNc'ruN, D. c.

` UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ZIMMERMAN, OF CHICAGQIIJLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL KEY-OPENING CAN COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

KEY-OPENING CAN..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,522, dated November 22, 1892.

Application led May 3, 1892. Serial No. 431,72 7. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

. Be it known that I, JOHN ZIMMERMAN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,l1ave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Key-Opening Cans; and I -instrument for tearing out the detachable strip to open the vessel. By a detachable strip is meant a strip forming a part of the can-body and rendered separable therefrom by reason of the body having been weakened in a line or lines bordering said strip.

Heretofore sheet-metalcans of this description have been provided with the free tongue in either of two ways-that is to say, either by employing a separate piece for the tongue,

such piece being partly inserted beneath the said edge to leave the tongue. The last-mentioned method has been preferred, notwithstanding the waste of material occasioned thereby, because such waste lhas been found less costly than the extra labor involved in the employment of a tongue formed of a separate piece.

It is the purpose of the present invention to avoid both the waste occasioned by one of said methods and the extra labor demanded by the other, and also to provide a construction by which a can may have all the advantages of being cheaply made, certainly sealed, and surely opened.

- To these ends the invention consists in the method and in the construction hereinafter described by the aid of the accompanying drawings. c

tion similar to Fig. 2, but having the interior head formed with a downwardly or inwardly turned flange, as indicated in Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a section representing a head resting upon theend of the can-body. Fig. 5 is a vertical section similar to Figs. 2 and 3, but showing 1the can as having an externally-applied head.

Fig. 6 isa fragment of the blank from which `the can-body of Figs. l, 2, 3, 'andl is formed.

Fig. 7 illustrates the manner of bringingthe opposite edges of the blank together when prepared as illustrated in Fig. 6.

tion of the arrow applied to said line. Fig. 10 illustrates a fragment of the blank prepared for an externally-applied head, as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 11 illustrates the two edges of the body-blank brought together when constructed in accordance with Fig. l0. Figs. l2 and 13 illustrate the slit or slits cut in the edge of the blank by removing a triangular piece instead of by making a simple straight cut, as shown in Figs. 6, 7, 10, and 1l.

A represents the body of a sheet-metal can, and B its head. The body A-is formed from -a blank O, which, as shown in Figs. 6, 7, andv 12, is provided with a single slit or notch c, cut inwardly from one of its vertical edges c', substantially parallel with the top or bottom edge of the blank, such slit being of the depth of the proposed lap of the side seam-of the can. In bringing the two edges c c2 of the blank s0 slitted together to form a lapped side seam the edge c2, which is straight, is inserted in the slit c so as to bringpthe laterally-detached tongue c3 upon the outside of the can-body. In this position of the edges c c2 solder is applied along the exposed edge c2 in the usual manner, and, if necessary, the iron by which the solder is'applied may bev continued in its motion over the base of the tongue or over a part thereof for the purpose Fig. 8 is a top edge view of Fig. 7. Fig. 9 is a sectiony in the line 9 9 of Fig. 6, looking in the direc- IOO of more certainly flowing the solder through the inner end of the slit c to fill the hole at this point, or to solder the base of the tongue to the subjacent portion of the edge c2. The end of the tongue is left free, so that it may be seized by the usual key or other instrument by which the can is to be opened. In continuation of the slit c and at the dotted line c4 the metal of the body is weakened in the usual or any suitable manner to insure severance of the metal in the properdirection by operation of such key or instrument. The head B, if provided with a marginal cylindric iiange and inserted within the end of the can-body, as indicated in Figs. l, 2, and 3, or if resting upon the end of the body, as shown in Fig. l, is soldered only to the detachable strip of which the tongue c3 forms a part, and by tearing off said strip the can-body is severed and the vessel opened.

If it be desired to apply the can-head'B externally to the body, as indicated in Fig. 5,

the edge c of the body-blank is provided with t-wo slits c, forming the tongue c3 between them, as indicated in Figs. 10 and 13, and in bringing the edge of the body-blank having this arrangement of the tongue into union with the opposite edge c2 the latter is made to overlap the edge c at both sides of the tongue, but to nnderlap the tongue itself, as indicated in Fig. ll. The soldering-iron is then drawn along the exposed edge c2, as before, and desirably over the base of the tongue c3, with the eiect of making a close seam throughout the length of the can-body. In the act of forming or after formn g the tongue c3 I prefer, as an additional improvement, to give it the oifset relation to the body of the blank indicated in Figs. 8 and 9, in which it will be seen to occupy a plane or curve outside that of the remainder of the body. The tongue being thus oiset, theedge c2 of the blank may be quickly and without deiiection inserted beneath said tongue in proper position to be soldered.

It will be observed that in the construction above described the tongue, though itself external to the can-body, is a part of the underlapping margin of the body-blank,instead, as heretofore, of being a projection formed upon and extending beyond the overlapping or external edge of said blank. While for the general purposes of my invention the weakened line c4 maybe produced by any suitable means-as, for example, by a longitudinal incision, by compression in a narrow line which will render the metal more dense and brittle, or by forming a more or less sharp bead and opposite groove, by which means the metal is partially fractured-I prefer` to form such weakened line or lines of severance by which a strip in continuation of the tongue c3 may be more readily detached by first forming a sharp groove in the sheet and then flattening the elevated surface or bead. This produces two ilexures in the metal and reduces the cohesion of the fibers in the line when so bent successively in opposite directions to such an extent that the strip is rendered very easily detachable by means of the key or other instrument, while the can-body is in no degree injured for its legitimate purpose and the surface-coatings of the metal are not removed. In thus forming the weakened line or lines of severance I prefer to use the familiar devices of tongue-and-grooved pressure-rollers to first form a narrow or sharp bead and then plain oylindric rollers between which to fiatten the bead. It will be desirable to compress the metal between the tongue of one roller and the bottom of the groove in the other, thus rendering the metal more dense or hard, so that it will be weakened in a greater degree when iiattened between the plain rollers.

I claim as my inventionl. The method of constructing the bodies of hermetically-sealed sheet-metal key-opening cans of the class having a free lip or tongue, which forms aprolongation of a detachable circumferential strip of the bodysheet, which method consists in slitting one side edge of the sheet to form the tongue, forming a weakened line parallel with the end of the sheet and continuous with the slit or with each slit, if more than one, placing the opposite side edge of the sheet in the slit beneath the tongue and over the remainder of the slitted edge, and finally passing a soldering-tool along the superposed edge and over the base of the tongue, whereby the oppositely-overlapping surfaces are soldered in a straight line from end to end of the body, leaving the end of the tongue free.

2. A hermetically-sealed sheet-metal can having the body described, said body consisting of a sheet of single thickness throughout, which has as a part thereof a circumferential detachable strip, the extremity of which is a free tongue that is laterally disconnected from the body by a slit or slits in one margin of the sheet, the opposite margins of the sheet being beneath the tongue and elsewhere throughout superposed upon the slitted edge of the sheet to form a lapped side seam, and a straight continuous line of solder extending along the said superposed edge and beneath the base of the tongue.

3. A hermetically-sealed sheet-metal can comprising a body having a lapped and soldered side seam and a head soldered to the body, the body being constituted of a sheet of single thickness throughout, having amarginal detachable strip to which the head is soldered, and which has a free extremity separated laterally from the body-sheet by a slit substantially parallel with the head and overlapping the opposite edge of the sheet which the remainder of the slitted margin underlaps to form the side seam.

4. A blank for sheet-metal can-bodies, having one or more weakened lines to afford a detachable strip at or parallel with the edge IOO IIO

of the blank, the said strip having one of In testimony that I claim the foregoing as its extremities laterally disconnected from my invention I affix my signature in presence the blank by a slit or slits formed in continof two witnesses.

nation of the weakened line o1' lines to con- JOHN ZIMMERMAN. 5 stitute a tongue, said tongue being offset, sub- Witnesses:

stantially as described, and for the purpose M. E. DAYTON,

set forth. TAYLOR E. BROWN. 

